Ultimaker gets 15 million Euros for further growth

By Site editors - January 2017 - Price update: 16 April 2024 -

These are good times for Ultimaker, the 3D printer manufacturer from Geldermalsen: The 3D printer pioneer has just gotten 15 million Euros for the financing of further growth The money comes from the EIB (the European Investment bank from Luxemburg) and will mainly be used for research projects and to bridge the gap to an even larger financing round that is planned for 2017. This is an important step for Ultimaker to become an even more decisive player in the 3D printing world.

Success story
The investment represents a new chapter in the success story of Ultimaker. Since its establishment, the company has grown explosively, it provides 3D printers to the 3D expertise center of Volkswagen in Portugal, Airbus, Tesla and Apple and Ultimaker has become one of the the worlds largest 3D printer manufacturers.

The company was started in 2011 by three friends (from left to right in the photo:  Siert Wijnia, Martijn Elserman and Erik de Bruijn) who together began to tinker with an open source 3D printer from England. And there appeared to be more and more interest. [Today, the company builds its own printers, but the principle has stayed the same: every Ultimaker printer can be recreated.

Companies and universities
Although Ultimaker hardware is ideal for home users, 70 percent of its turnover comes from companies and another 20 percent comes from research institutes from universities such as  TU Delft, Harvard and Yale. Today they are responsible for about 25 percent of all 3D printers in their market segment with a total turnover of around 30 million Euros.

Ultimaker now employs about 200 people in manufacturing facilities in Zaltbommel (The Netherlands) and Boston for the American market. For assembly, distribution and support the company signed an agreement with Fbrc8 last year.

The products of Ultimaker can be found HERE.